Overheating M11x-R1

[Scylla]

This is what I needed the screwdrivers for, but it's done me no good.

Dell ran a test and the temp was 87deg. The guy said he'd speak to his "colleague" (I bet he meant his boss!) and try to get me a new motherboard, but then emailed to say that an engineer would fit a new heatsink.

So I emailed back "a heatsink has no moving parts so how can a new one make a difference?" and he emailed me back and said (which I'd guessed anyway but I was being disingenuous):

Usually the heatsink is passive part which goes together with fan, but the fan is usually separate, depend on model.
Your heatsink is all together the copper “radiator” with pipes and the fan.
As you have been using the computer for a while and did not clean the heatsink with the fan, the heatsink and the fan are full of dust and the dust is hindering the airflow. That cases the gpu and cpu on higher temperature and the performance is lower.


Could someone look at this video and judge whether cleaning the fan of the M11x should be expected of non-expert users?



There is no visible dust whatsoever under the main bottom panel, and I've shone a torch into the fan-cover holes and can't see any, but the holes are very tiny so I can't see much of anything besides a hint of some blades.


I hardly use the M11x-R1 (dual core SU7300), I also have the R3 version with with an i7 CPU and it runs much cooler.

[alanfinal]

The video above is of a more gaming style laptop,made to come apart easily,so if you have a Dell I would expect it to be much harder

[Scylla]

That's my laptop, Alan, I have 2 of them with different innards

I do video editing, plus I need small laptops, and the market for small powerful laptops is restricted and expensive

[alanfinal]

Yeah I am not a laptop user consider them heat magnets which is the worst environment for electronics,I presume this is not a usual problem for your laptop or forums would be full of people complaining the same thing<I put my own PCs together,but happy in the Knowledge that my brother is a hardware engineer,your always welcome to bring it over if you get no other joy,he would look at it for you.

[Gordy]

you could try blasting a can of compressed air into the fan vent to clear a bit of dust but more than likely the culprit is the thermal compound used under the heat sinks has dried out and lost its heat transfer properties ....this will need it taking apart and cleaning the old stuff off and new fresh thermal compound applied

do you have a dell service plan?

[Scylla]

It was on the last day of its one-year warranty It would be £200 for another year Months ago I phoned them about it and they tested it then and said it was within limits, and I've hardly used it since. But I wanted to do some recording on it and couldn't believe how quickly it got hot, the base gets almost too hot to touch.

I have sprayed it with canned air, didn't do any good.

What I'm so annoyed about is the suggestion that I should have cleaned the fan when it is inaccessible - and I need someone to agree with me, Gordy! Gordy?!!!!!!!!!!

[Bluefish]

Taking the back off would invalidate any wuarrenty, so no you are right, much like womble

[Scylla]

Funnily enough these Dell Alienware laptops don't have any seals or stickers saying "removal will void warranty"

[Jemima]

Similar laptop to the one I have Scylla

About every 3 or 4 months I take the back off and give the fans a quick dust with a small paintbrush and that seems to do the job. If thats not working then u may need to get some new thermal grease and reapply it like Gordy suggested. Maplins sell it for a couple of quid and it is pritty easy to do if you follow the video step by step.

[Scylla]

Aug 27, 2012 11:47:46 GMT Jemima said:

take the back off and give the fans a quick dust with a small paintbrush

What make/model is your lappy, Jemmy?

The fan in the M11x is not visible or accessible when the back is removed, you have to do much more dismantling to get to it, and I can't tell from the video above at what stage the fan becomes get-at-able >

I've just downloaded the service manual.

[Deleted]

Aug 27, 2012 3:12:05 GMT Gordy said:

you could try blasting a can of compressed air into the fan vent to clear a bit of dust but more than likely the culprit is the thermal compound used under the heat sinks has dried out and lost its heat transfer properties ....this will need it taking apart and cleaning the old stuff off and new fresh thermal compound applied

do you have a dell service plan?

To be honest Gordy if you just blast a can of compressed air into the vents you could cause further problems by sending the dust into other ares of the lappy , dust can cause shorts on the electronics .

Unfortunately I know from experience

[Jemima]

M17XR3 Scylla

Any tips in the manual ?

[Scylla]

If/when my old Asus gamer dies (and it should do soon, it's been recording 24/7 for the past 18 months and it was used for gaming before I bought it ) I was thinking of getting an M17x (second-hand of course). But the whole M**x range takes a pasting re display quality, ie colours rather washed out, and that's my experience with both my M11x's. Then there's the weight to consider

Anyway, Jemmy, thanks for reminding me that I downloaded the service manual, which is as much use as a choc teapot because it doesn't unzip into a manual but to all the different components - jpg, gif, htm, css, you name it And there's no mention of a fan anywhere

The engineer is coming on Friday, I've got to clear a space for him

Maybe I'll take pictures.